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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel extremely depressed about how Brexit is limiting the lives we once knew.

999 replies

Persiantrio · 31/03/2021 20:10

Presumably now, if you want to go shopping in Paris on the Eurostar, you will have to declare, queue and pay customs on any clothes / goods over a given amount at the border. How crap and inconvenient is that?

Same with any holiday purchases from anywhere in the EU? Not worth it.

Also if you order anything online that happens to come from the EU and costs over over £135, you get hit with massive customs charges of about 40%. Companies like Etsy etc are taking a massive hit as a result.

How is this “taking back control?” Its so depressing and backward. The only reason nobody is kicking off about this yet is because nobody could go anywhere anyway. People don’t realise the freedoms they had and that are now gone. What a shit and insular place to live this will be.

And I don’t wait to hear any predictable ‘vaccine nationalism’ waffle either (because that has nothing whatsoever to do with what I’m asking in this instance and we could have done exactly the same within the EU anyway).

OP posts:
LibrariesGiveUsPower45321 · 31/03/2021 20:40

YABU because your examples are duff and full of inaccuracies.

Who cares if you have to pay more on your shopping trip to Paris? Shop in London and save on the train ticket.

Original poster
Persiantrio · 31/03/2021 20:43

“Shop in London and save on the train ticket.”

This is the exact mentality that I’m depressed about. I’m mean, what can you actually say to that?

Let’s all just stay where we are from now on Confused

OP posts:
sst1234 · 31/03/2021 20:43

Here we go. People coming out to attack OP. Just because you have never shopped in Paris, doesn’t mean it’s unfathomable. Is it just envy or a lack of imagination?

Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady · 31/03/2021 20:45

1st post OP? You wouldn't happen to have a thing for importing expensive art and italian glass vases would you?

Fairyliz · 31/03/2021 20:45

@LizzieMacQueen

I agree OP. It's quite common to buy pieces on holiday such as jewellery eg diamonds in Amsterdam. Obviously not every day but perhaps for a special anniversary. I also had to rethink buying a handbag from a german manufacturer as 1) import duties and 2) inconvenience & cost if I had wanted to return it.

GB has become a smaller place. Please oh please don't let Scotland gain independence!

Haha I’m in my 60’s and don’t know anyone who has bought diamonds in Amsterdam. I few sweets with funny wrappers is the limit of my holiday spend. Really I cannot feel upset that people who can afford diamonds have to pay more tax.
warmandtoasty2day · 31/03/2021 20:47

my heart goes out to the suffering of some posters on here it really does.

LizzieMacQueen · 31/03/2021 20:47

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

It's quite common to buy pieces on holiday such as jewellery eg diamonds in Amsterdam

I'm sitting here rolling on the floor laughing. It's really not common to buy pieces on holidays such as jewellery eg diamonds in Amsterdam.

Can you hear yourself? These are activities that are probably only common among the wealthiest 10% of the UK. DH and I are in that bracket easily and even I would absolutely not say its "common" to do that.

You missed my next sentence.

Obviously not every day but perhaps for a special anniversary

And yes, I do know people who have bought anniversary/maternity/engagement pieces of jewellery in the diamond houses in Amsterdam. (Though, for the record, I haven't)

ImAlrightThanx · 31/03/2021 20:48

I agree with you OP, but some people just don't care about it.

SeasonFinale · 31/03/2021 20:48

I agree with you OP. Just because some people haven't had certain experiences doesn't mean other people do and it is certainly sad that out lives will be curtailed and more restricted because many (not all before I get slated!) made un-informed decisions to vote to leave. My own son has admitted to voting to leave because he really believed "the bus" and agrees that he did not really understand the implications of a leave vote.

Whilst I accept the majority voted and it has happened (so I have to "get over it") I can still miss the things that I once could freely enjoy but can't now.

Original poster
Persiantrio · 31/03/2021 20:50

It’s hardly unheard of to go on a weekend break to Paris is it? It’s only a couple of hours on the train - hardly a moon expedition! You could say the same about Brugge or Amsterdam or so many easy-reach cities.

Yes you can still go, of course, but if you bring anything back it’s form-filling and potential customs charges. Plus queues and red-tape and different passports that we just don’t need to be bothering with. life was complicated enough without limiting ourselves unnecessarily in this way. What was the point?

OP posts:
Fuckingcrustybread · 31/03/2021 20:51

@Persiantrio
I agree, it's absolutely dreadful the way Brexit has limited all our lives, we can't just hop onto a plane or train to travel in Europe the way we used to. It's impossible to take a holiday anymore. We're trapped here in the U.K.
We can't jump onto the Eurostar and go to Paris or Brussels or even Bruges, all European destinations are now out of reach.
Things will never be the same because of Brexit Covid
Get a grip, the U.K. can and does produce quality goods, you'll just have to look and find them

Newrumpus · 31/03/2021 20:51

@Persiantrio

But what was the point? Why vote to make lives more expensive and inconvenient?
The point was nothing to do with shopping trips.
Parkermumma07 · 31/03/2021 20:52

So your issue with brexit is about shopping!

ImAlrightThanx · 31/03/2021 20:53

It’s hardly unheard of to go on a weekend break to Paris is it? It’s only a couple of hours on the train - hardly a moon expedition! You could say the same about Brugge or Amsterdam or so many easy-reach cities

It's cheaper for me to travel on a train to Paris or Amsterdam from my SE town than to get a train to Manchester, York, or Edinburgh for the weekend. Crazy.

Newrumpus · 31/03/2021 20:53

@LadyWithLapdog

OP I agree. I’m saddened my DCs lives will be more constrained than mine and that it was down to fear and hate for foreigners.
If your children are still young teach them not to hate foreigners and not to be afraid.
Catkin8 · 31/03/2021 20:54

@LemonRoses Damn, if only I'd realised Brexit would stop your dog having a foreign holiday, I might have voted to remain..Hmm

AmorYCohetes · 31/03/2021 20:54

Silly me, I've been so concerned with Brexit paving the way to get rid of the working hours time directive and other protections for workers that I forgot to be upset about buying diamonds in Amsterdam.

Pyewackect · 31/03/2021 20:54

@MadMadMadamMim

Maybe you'll have to shop in London from now on then. Instead of Paris.

Tragic.

This, totally.
ColourMeExhausted · 31/03/2021 20:54

I agree OP. The only reason people aren't more outraged or don't fully comprehend the impact is because of the pandemic. Once travel opens up again there'll be a lot of whinging, and I bet most of it will be done by the idiots who voted for it (who've probably forgotten they did as it was that long ago). I'm over my initial rage and fury, it felt pointless, but I'm sad and depressed about how life has been made even more limited and difficult on top of the pandemic restrictions.

LibertyMole · 31/03/2021 20:55

I thought that the customs charge on diamonds was 0?

And Netherlands VAT is 1% higher than ours so why would it be more expensive to buy them now?

ShesMadeATwatOfMePam · 31/03/2021 20:55

Well i don't have enough money to go shopping in Paris so that's going to have no effect on my life at all. You can still go. Filling out some forms at customs. Oh god, however will you cope?

Can you at least come up with some half decent reasons?

raskolnikova · 31/03/2021 20:56

I agree OP.

Whammyyammy · 31/03/2021 20:57

Pre covid, my husband travelled to the U.S about 10 times per year. Always bought me and our kids gifts back. Jewellery, perfume, clothes, alcohol, tobacco for our neighbour...... never had an issue as remained in limit. Same for eu now... not difficult

user1473878824 · 31/03/2021 20:58

@LizzieMacQueen

I agree OP. It's quite common to buy pieces on holiday such as jewellery eg diamonds in Amsterdam. Obviously not every day but perhaps for a special anniversary. I also had to rethink buying a handbag from a german manufacturer as 1) import duties and 2) inconvenience & cost if I had wanted to return it.

GB has become a smaller place. Please oh please don't let Scotland gain independence!

I really don’t think it’s “common” to go to Amsterdam and buy diamonds and I live in one of the naicest bits of London.
lampygirl · 31/03/2021 21:00

Ive replaced ski kit abroad multiple times. It’s already more expensive in resort shops, though you do get the ability to try kit out on the mountain and get it tweaked by the shop if it needs it, but when you’ve paid a lot for your holiday you kind of suck that up especially if you knew you’d need something new. If that means you are also going to get another 40% hit on top plus all the admin shite at Calais on the way back it does make a big difference. Just because people can afford a nice holiday now and again it doesn’t mean it’s not saved for and budgeted for, and this sort of thing does make a difference to people.